NICK CAVE AND HIS BAD SEEDS IN REARVIEW (2017): The dark, the light and the spiritual love

Graham Reid | Apr 27, 2017 | 2 min read

Come Into My Sleep

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For those who couldn't afford
the excellent Nick Cave reissue series, the three CD set (covering 1985 - 2013)
plus a 38-clip DVD of interviews and videos -- under the title Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Lovely Creatures, The Best of CD/DVD set (BMG) -- is as good as it gets.

Released on May 5, Lovely Creatures is presented as a slim hardback
book with a thoughtful essay by novelist/insider Kirk Lake (who appeared in the
Cave “doco” 20,000 Days on Earth) plus photos, recording and interview details.

This intelligent artefact scoops up 35 seminal tracks – yes, we uber-fans will
note omissions – but the scope here is exceptional.

And as broad as it could
have been.

Of the music across the CDs,
it moves forward from the scouring title track to From Her to Eternity through harrowing visions (Mercy Seat, Red Right Hand, Stagger Lee)
and gorgeous ballads (Straight to You)
and on to the almost holy closer Push
the Sky Away.

The non-chronological
interviews on the DVD come from down the decades and are peppered between the
clips (of variable quality but sometimes fans-eye view phone footage) which show
the growth of an artist from the shades-wearing and damaged songwriter to the
thoughtful and witty poet of today.

And yet the consistency of
his vision over three decades is what you are left with.

Nick Cave has always explored
the beauty of darkness, the unknown world beyond the veil of life and the preciousness
of a light in the night . . . whether it be faith, music or the power of
self-belief.

These days he and various
Seeds play big rooms (the Vector Arena?) but such places are not his natural
home.

At a Vector or a Glastonbury
Festival – a flat floor at Vector and a bloody big field at Glastonbury --Cave
as always addresses the front few rows so his special intensity can be lost.

His music of deep Old
Testament revelation, spook blues from the Twenties and Thirties (which reaches
back further) and his emotional intimacy require a closeness.

And that is where the DVD clips
works in your favour: The camera -- and grimy video -- can get closer to him and the band than you
ever could from a distance . . . although it is extraordinary to see people at
Glastonbury so far away from the stage singing along with every word, while
people beside them check their phones.

Nick Cave and the many Bad Seeds (see the photo below for just how many) also seem made for
black’n’white footage and there is some of that here too from television performances,
and they are among the best.

Impressive.

But then you knew that about Nick/Seeds, right?

Or you really should have.

Elsewhere has Nick Cave archival interviews, reviews and a lovely encounter (here) if you care you start here.

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